Melted yellow and white cheeses top shredded chicken on Jacalitos, the restaurant’s take on nachos

Melted yellow and white cheeses top shredded chicken on Jacalitos, the restaurant’s take on nachos

Photo: KIN MAN HUI, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Review: Jacala

1 / 4

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At Jacala restaurant, the Quiñones family discovered a formula more than 50 years ago that still works: Classic Tex-Mex, fast service and good margaritas.

It's a place that exemplifies a spirit and history that's uniquely San Antonio and quintessentially American.

In 1949, when Rudolph G. Quiñones and his wife, Adelfa, opened their first restaurant at the intersection of Culebra Road and Wilson Boulevard, there were few places that served the comfort food of South Texas.

In those days, he cooked and she waited tables. When the doors opened, the restaurant had only four booths and two tables, which he had built.

Before that, Rudolph Quiñones, a San Antonio native, had served in Germany in the Army during World War II, leaving as a sergeant.

Meanwhile, his wife was part of the Mexican wave of migration that fled north during the revolution of 1910. She had been born into a wealthy family in Tampico, but left when she was a little girl along with her family, who had to rebuild their lives from nothing.

Rudolph and Adelfa Quiñones married and started a family and saved the little money they could to pursue their dream of opening a restaurant.

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From that first place, the couple opened a second restaurant on West Avenue in 1952. Eventually, they opened a total of eight restaurants, seven in San Antonio and one in Tyler. Their three daughters now run the West Avenue business. It's the only one remaining, and it's constantly packed.

And why shouldn't it be filled? With that much history, it's a fundamental part of this city and its culture.

The dishes here are on the mark, well-made renditions of old-school San Antonio-style Mexican food.

One of the original creations here, their take on nachos called Jacalitos, combines a generous pile of yellow and white cheese with some red salsa on top of moist and flavorful shredded chicken on top of tortilla chips. This is one of the few Tex-Mex dishes that improves with more cheese.

That same shredded chicken served as the filling of the flautas, which were good but needed a sprinkling of lettuce and tomatoes, and maybe a little crema, on top.

The chicken also fills the enchiladas. The green enchiladas had a good flavor but needed more salsa verde to go with the cheese and cream.

A signature dish here, the puffy tacos, don't puff out like pillows of masa but are more like gorditas folded into tacos. Whether filled with ground beef, shredded chicken or just mashed avocado, they're a crowd pleaser.

The chile relleno is a local classic — battered and fried, stuffed with ground beef and topped with a somewhat spicy ranchero sauce.

It's only apropos that their margarita harkens to the drink's legend, in which a wealthy American named Margarita Sames combined tequila, Contreau and freshly squeezed lime juice for a party in Acapulco.

Here, the Original Oro uses Sauza Gold, Italian orange liqueur Grand Gala and fresh lime juice. This schooner of goodness is tart, strong and so good I didn't even mind the frilly umbrella.

Their fajitas are fine, but the real star of this menu is the order of tamales, which absolutely rocks. Sitting in their husks on a plate, they look like they would taste greasy, but they're surprisingly light and very flavorful. If you're looking to buy a dozen around the holidays, the tamales here would be a good choice. They are a wonderful version of the South Texas classic.

As long as those tamales, efficient service and the classic margaritas continue to be part of the experience here, there's no reason why this place can't stick around for another 60 years.